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Women in the Military: Why Can't We Serve on the Front Lines?

The Defense Department recently announced new policies that will open more than 14,000 military job opportunities to women. Which seems like a great step—except that more than 200,000 positions will still remain exclusive to men, from front-line infantry positions to high-level special operations roles.

Why? According to a press release, “the department recognizes there are practical barriers that require time to resolve to ensure the services maximize the safety and privacy of all service members while maintaining military readiness.”

But others see things differently: “[According to researchers], traditional attitudes make many people both uncomfortable with the idea of women fighting and unable to handle the image of mothers coming home in body bags,” says Discovery News. They also note, “there are also concerns that women will interfere with group bonding and cohesion—the same arguments that long interfered with the integration of African Americans and gay people into the military.”

So we decided to go straight to the source: We asked women who have served in the armed forces how they feel about the decision, and their thoughts on what it will really take to achieve gender equality in the military. Here’s what we found out.

Gender Equality, Job Equality

Most of the women we spoke with strongly believe that the military should be like any other job field: All opportunities should be open to both men and women. “To keep someone out of something… or restrict them when they’re capable still doesn’t make sense to me,” explains Air Force Captain Kristen Franke. Banning women from certain jobs, she says, is as archaic as the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

Critics, of course, have expressed concerns about women being able to do the job, particularly for front-line positions. But, according to the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN), even though women aren’t technically allowed to serve in combat roles, they’ve been unofficially doing so for quite some time, particularly because in modern warfare, there is no traditional front line.

“Women may not be out kicking doors down, but they are still vulnerable to getting attacked and fighting back with the units of convoys, vulnerable bases, and out on missions,” says Tarren Windham, Hospital Corpsman First Class for the Navy and Marines.

Perhaps the most important argument for maintaining gender equality at every level is that it’s necessary to truly enable women to have successful careers within the military. “Many of the positions currently banning women are necessary for career development and success,” says a SWAN representative. “SWAN has dubbed this the ‘brass ceiling’ that the combat exclusion policy places over women’s advancement in the Armed Services.”

Windham agrees that current policies prevent her from taking on certain positions. “Being in the medical field, I serve with the Marines,” she says. “Because of the restrictions on women on the front lines there are only so many stations I can go to. There are fewer of what I would consider cool jobs out there because of the restrictions.”

Gender Discrimination is Alive and Well

Unfortunately, though, gender equality issues in the military go beyond rules about what positions women are allowed to serve in. The individuals we spoke with were clear that gender discrimination is alive and well, and if the military can’t abolish blatant sexism, they won’t see equality for many more years.

Windham describes a not-atypical scenario: “Sometimes, before you even check into a command [present orders to superiors after being transferred], they will look at the orders of the incoming personnel and see that it’s a woman. The first thing people start talking about is, ‘I wonder if she’s hot, I wonder if she puts out, I wonder if she’s fat.’”

Windham adds that she’s actually been told she “shouldn’t try and work outside of [her administrative duties] because that’s what girls are good at.” The problem is pervasive, and is often reinforced by those in upper command—a serious obstacle to overcome if the military as a whole is ever going to progress beyond these views.

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